OBDII Reader recommendation

[mylittletony]

Hi good people

I'm looking for an OBDII reader for my non-retro and struggling to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Can anyone link me to a reasonable but inexpensive one?

And while I'm asking, will it be able to output AC related faults?

(car in question is 2003 Seat Ibiza - sorry)

[Phil H]

An OBDII reader off the shelf will rarely talk to anything apart from the engine - irrespective of how cheap or expensive it is. You're then into the pricey land of genuine readers or sometimes ones like Snap-On or Bosch make for several thousand.

I think you'll need something from RossTech - one of the names that pops up from my days running VAG stuff of the modern age.

[xbl]

You'll need vagcom to interrogate the car properly, if it's petrol it might not even be OBDII compliant

[swampy76]

The Carista app and reader is very good for VAG stuff

I have one for my Audi not only does it do the general fault reading it also allows the retraction of the electronic handbrake for pad changibg and also lets you turn on other functions

[mylittletony]

Dec 19, 2018 20:58:50 GMT swampy76 said:

The Carista app and reader is very good for VAG stuff

I looked at that but it appears to not support my car unfortunately.

xbl & Phil H - yeah, I think VCDS is in my future. Bit more involved than I wanted to get really, but beggars can't be choosers.

[toast00]

Depends what you want to read. For some simple fault codes, i use a bluetooth dongle in the OBD port and an app on my phone which was free. Beyond that you are in the realms of price equipment, however there are some car manufacture specific work-arounds.

[hkr91]

My b5.5 used to work with a cheap blue lead from eBay and using VCDS lite - unsure if the lite version is still available.

When I got into B6 territory and got my t4, I went all out and got a genuine VCDS lead from Marshall industries. Gendan and other places sell them. Using it on non can vehicles you have to manually search for the platform which you are scanning but it covers everything on my b5.5.

Beware. Rosstech have now changed their leads. You can buy ones with a three vin (you can only use it on three vehicles) or buy one that's unlimited.

Second hand leads do come up which might be unlimited (all the original ones were) but if you're looking at genuine VCDS, don't skimp on clone cables. I've heard more horror stories than good, some simply pack up after a while whilst others have had bigger issues. Also you're unable to update the VCDS software after a certain stage with a clone lead.

[ahebron]

I use Autel Diaglink and Rosstech VCDS.
Both read my Amarok and the Diaglink works on any car I download software for.

[fr€$h&m1nt¥]

We had a plug in unit for our 2003 Audi A2 - they're about £12 nowadays.

You can list the error codes of various types and reset them too.

Saved us some cash a few times identifying issues like coil packs etc.

[ChasR]

What car is it?

As said, going with a manufacturer specific lead goes a long way.

This example in a post below could have been solved without the diagnostic kit but on another car the correct software was invaluable; as the car got pushed into daily service, having that accurate information went a long way

I had VCDS diagnose a shot camshaft on a B6 Passat. The codes weren't obvious, but the live data and error codes pointed towards it.

forum.retro-rides.org/post/2390664/thread